Rethinking "Reversion": Okinawa, Japan, and the U.S. Fifty Years Later

Multiple Events To Be Held During 2021-2022 Academic Year
See individual events outlined below for more information.

May 15, 2022 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the “reversion” of Okinawa to Japan. To commemorate the occasion, the Japan Committee at the Center for East Asian Studies has arranged a series of performances and talks that reflect on the ongoing legacies Okinawa’s remarkable history, including the continuing presence of massive American military bases in what remains Japan’s poorest prefecture, the traumatic memories of the brutal 1945 Battle of Okinawa and the decades of U.S. military occupation that followed, and imperial Japan’s annexation of the islands in 1879. Join us for these events, taking place throughout the 2021-2022 academic year, as we learn about the unique history and cultures of Okinawa, from the traces of the once-independent Ryūkyū Kingdom to today’s fashionable tourist destination that is at the same time a hotbed of popular discontent.

November 4, 2021 at 5 PM US Central Time
Akemi Johnson
Journalist/Author
Title: "Night in the American Village: Women in the Shadow of the U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa"
Venue: Zoom
Click here to view the lecture on YouTube.
Part of the East Asia by the Book! CEAS Author Talks series

Monday, February 21, 2022, 5:00 pm (US Central Time)
Ichiro Tomiyama (Doshisha University)

Professor of Global Studies
Title: "The Making of Okinawans: “Reversion” as “L’ensemble des efforts"
Venue: Zoom
Click here to view the lecture on YouTube.
15th Annual Tetsuo Najita Distinguished Lecture

Sunday, March 27, 2022, 3:00 pm (US Central Time)
UC Presents - Waves Across Time: Traditional Music and Dance of Okinawa
REGISTER [Closed]


Monday, March 28, 2022, 11:30 am (US Central Time)
Let's Do Lunch! Conversation and Demonstration with Okinawan Artists

Click here to view the event on YouTube.

Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 5:00 pm (US Central Time) [PLEASE NOTE THIS NEW DATE FOR THE LECTURE]
Gerald Figal (Vanderbilt University)
Professor of History and Director, Asian Studies
Title: "The Business of Photography in Occupied Okinawa"
Venue: Joseph Regenstein Library, Rm. 122
Part of the CEAS Lecture Series
Click here to view the lecture on YouTube.

Thursday, May 5, 2022, 5:00 pm (US Central Time)

Wendy Matsumura (University of California, San Diego)
Associate Professor of History
Title: "Neocolonialism and Struggle in Okinawa from Wartime Mobilization to Reversion"
Venue: Joseph Regenstein Library, Rm. 122
Part of the CEAS Lecture Series
Click here to view the lecture on YouTube.

Click HERE to view and download the publicity poster.

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